TRANSCRIPT:
Amongst the rubble on the streets of war-torn Gaza City, life isn't easy for any living creature.
Essentials like food, taken for granted in many places on Earth, are, more or less, luxuries here now.
It's something 42 year-old Raneya Murad feels most acutely.
"The starvation affected my personal life, just like it did for the rest of the people of Gaza. There is no flour, there are no sources of protein, we're missing everything. But maybe we, as cat carers, were a little more affected because we are responsible for souls other than our children and the people we are responsible for. We are responsible for other souls, souls that can't ask or complain."
Ms Murad cares for cats - many cats - in her small Gaza City apartment.
And Ms Murad says things have worsened as the war has gone on - for her family, and for her cats.
Now, whatever humans can scrounge together to eat, her cats eat too.
"At the beginning of the crisis I used to feed the cats two meals per day, these two meals consisted of canned food; peas, beans. At first it was challenging for them to eat - but later with the hunger they accepted this and ate it. After we no longer had access to the canned food, I fed them whatever I cooked for myself and the children. I would take a part of it and feed them."
A diet of lentils is generally far from ideal for a feline, and the cats are very gaunt and sick as a result.
"The health situation of the cats is very bad as you can see, they are always affected by diseases, infections in the gums and the teeth, fungus on their skin, hair thinning and hair loss. Their weight decreases every day to the point where you can count the vertebrae on their backs."
She says not all her cats have survived.
Ms Murad says the silent suffering of animals is being ignored in this war.
"Throughout the whole war, nobody asked what the animals are eating. I got exhausted while looking for institutions that take care of them, asking them to allow in a small portion of animal food along with the aid for humans - whether for my cats or the cats of the street, or the cats that are in town. Unfortunately, I could not provide anything."
Her concerns are backed up when her son takes one of her cats to a pet store for the store's owner, Mohammed Abu Salmieh, to inspect.
He acts as a kind of vet.
Mr Abu Salmieh says thousands of cats in the enclave are suffering.
"We suffer from a big problem which is finding food for cats, pets and birds. This cat is among thousands of cats that suffer from malnutrition in Gaza Strip. It became so thin, its hair is thinning because of the malnutrition and lack of food, as its food is not available in the Gaza Strip."
